THE GRATITUDE DANCE

THIS REPUBLIC OF SUFFERING

I've read this book over the past several months, a few pages at a time. It was quite fascinating, to see how the Civil War changed our culture's view of death. Since reading it, I've picked up on several references to ideas and mind-sets in our current lives. The accounting of soldiers' lives is always important - the total sum of the dead versus the individual deaths. Interesting, too, to see how the casualty reports affected military decisions, communities, and individuals.
If you are a Civil War buff, this is a must read.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE YOUNG MEN GONE? GONE TO SOLDIERS, EVERY ONE.

We have added a name to the Memorial Hall wall of heroes. Another young man, CPT Corey Jenkins, USA, was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 25, 2009. He was serving as a Physician's Assistant. He was returning from a humanitarian mission to give cholera vaccinations to a local village. On their return, he and 7 others were killed by an IED. Today, we memorialized him at BYU.

This is the third name we have added to the wall since I began working here in April 2001. I hope it's the last. It's probably not.

I look at all the other names, dating from WWI, and think of the collective grief that each name represents. One long side of the Hall is all windows, facing east, framing Y Mountain. It seems fitting to be able to see the majesty and permanence of the mountains from this room.

The mountains give me a necessary reminder of my place in the scheme of things.

. . . IN WHICH WE PLANT A TREE

On Sunday, October 25, we planted a tree in Sarah and Bob's back yard in memory of Baby Boy, born still on July 23, 2009. Bob's parents and brother were visiting. Sarah and Bob chose a Linden tree, which is native to this part of Utah. Dan, Thomas, and Bob dug the large hole to accomodate the tree and root ball. [Kate held Yaya over the hole and scared her to death! It was classic teasing at it's finest] Sarah had chosen a scripture "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21) We listened to the song "You Are My Sunshine" and cried while they filled in the hole. (I always sang that to my children; my dad sang it to us; his mother sang it to him) It was such a tender moment, and my heart ached for them.

Sarah's greatest fear is that we will all forget him, but that will never, ever happen. We love ALL of you so much.

MOVIE MANIA

I rarely watch movies on DVD, videos, whatever. I do have NetFlix, but generally send the movies back after they sit around on the kitchen bar for a month or more. However, 10 days ago, I went with my sister-in-law to see "Amelia." It has Richard Gere (yum!) and Hillary Swank. It was excellent! It was worth even full price. I know, the critics panned it, but it was a great [mostly accurate] story of Amelia Earhart and beautiful scenery that made me glad I saw it on the big screen. I'm not a Hillary Swank fan, but I loved her in this movie.
Last night, I decided to watch my NetFlicks selection "P.S. I Love You." I had been duly warned that it was a tear jerker, and it really was. Cheesy, yes. Believable, no. It is the ultimate chick flick -- Hillary Swank (again) is rather homely in it, but she has these great guys in her life - Harry Connick, Jr., Gerard Butler, and Dead-Denney-from-Grey's-Anatomy. Plus great scenery from Ireland and Manhattan. I mean, really, how can you go wrong? I didn't even multi-task while watching (except the first part while I ate Panda Express for dinner). No needlework, no reading, just sat and watched a movie. It was a modern miracle, I'm telling you.
Thank you, Dan and Jenn, for not laughing at me crying through the entire thing.